As your school year starts, you realize that you have three ELLs who are newcomers to the United States. Discuss how a comprehensive literacy program addresses their needs, drawing attention to specific components of the framework that are particularly relevant. Then discuss any additional scaffolding you would offer to support these children's needs.
As a teacher of a diverse school. I found this post to be very beneficial. In order to push my newcomer ELL students I feel that it would be beneficial to implement reading and writing workshops. Weaver states, "reading and writing workshops are the heart a comprehensive literacy program." (p.280) ELL students need intensive instruction that allows them broad exposure to multiple contexts. Each day I would read aloud to my students. By reading aloud, I am able to "think aloud" strategies that may be beneficial while reading, and by reading aloud I am also modeling appropriate reading fluency. Reading aloud allows the children to develop a love for reading, the story, and knowledge of reading. I would also involve my students in shared reading experiences. Each student would have a copy of the text I am reading. Shared reading promotes book handling, book language, vocabulary, letter-sound relationships, word-level skills, strategies for processing written texts, punctuation conventions, grammar and structure in reading, critical thinking and meaning, and exposure to many genres (Weaver, 2002). During a guided reading group, I will prepare mini-lessons that fit the needs of the students within the group. These mini-lessons will guide future instruction and will allow me to assess and chart their growth. I can utilize multiple individual conferences to invite students to share their books with me. I will listen to them read, and we will have discussions on appropriate strategies that can be used, as well as their personal opinions of the book. By integrating reading and writing, the students use skills that build upon one another to promote learning. The comprehensive program is key to success!
By implementing a comprehensive literacy program, these ELL students' confidence will soar. They will be exposed to many contexts and will soon begin to have motivation to read. Students will become aware of the reading process, and they will have opportunities to work with others. It is through collaboration, that many new ideas and connections will evolve.
I also believe the comprehensive literacy program will bring success to students. There are so many opportunities to reach the students and different approaches a teacher could use to engage the students. I like how you mentioned the students being motivated by this program and the variety of texts they are exposed to. You also made a good point about increasing their confidence. I think this program allows students to feel confident and successful because not everyone is doing the exact same thing within small groups and individual conferences with the teacher, so they aren’t always comparing their work with everyone else because they expect it to be different. Students will also be able to see the progress they are making throughout the year in a form other than a paper and pencil test. All of these components help promote learning in the classroom.
ReplyDelete